Khalida Khan, Director of the An-Nisa Society, recounts how Hindutva trolls tried to incite a riot in Wembley by posting fake posters to mobilise Muslims to a demonstration outside a Hindu Temple.
In recent weeks, an attempt was made by the Indian Hindutva movement, who have a fascist anti-Muslim ideology, to provoke communal disturbances in Wembley. The abysmal way this was handled by the local MP, police and council is a textbook of how authorities are being manipulated by a far-right organisation trying to import Hindutva into the UK.
Whilst scrolling Twitter, I was extremely disturbed to see a poster, mobilising Muslims to a demonstration outside a Hindu Temple on Ealing Road.
Even at first glance the poster seemed suspect. It allegedly came from an organisation called “Apna Muslims.” In Urdu this is incorrect use of language and bad grammar, and it contained many other inconsistencies which convinced me this was fake.
I searched this account to see what was going on. Twitter said no such account existed. However, the poster was already out there, being tweeted and retweeted by Hindutva supporters along with horrendous Islamophobic comments attached.
Suddenly, my local MP Barry Gardiner, issued a tweet, the wording of which was upsetting and inflammatory against the Muslim community. He implied this alleged threat from Muslims was real, even though many people in the thread questioned whether he had verified that this was so.
Almost instantaneously Barry Gardiner had informed the police, who responded with patrols outside local temples and mosques. Brent Council followed suit, filming a video with Muslim and Hindu religious leaders outside the Ealing Road Temple calling for community calm and cohesion.
None of these authority figures seemed to have questioned the authenticity of the “Apna Muslims” tweet. Just by clicking on the tweet itself as I did, for it not to have an account any more would have made anyone suspicious.
Within minutes on Barry Gardiner’s tweet thread itself, “Valent Projects,” a consultancy who have been shortlisted for awards for investigating misinformation, had very quickly found the source of the original tweet and confirmed to him that it was fake, emanating from foreign accounts. Yet he made no effort to clarify the situation.
This story was originally published in 5pillarsuk.com . Read the full story here
